


Let's Do The Time Warp Again

by PuzlDragon



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkwardness, BAMF Mutou Yuugi, F/M, Feelings, Friendship is Magic, Gay, Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler & Mutou Yuugi Friendship, M/M, Mutou Yuugi Needs a Hug, Romantic Fluff, Sennen Items | Millennium Items, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-02-22 22:32:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23268097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuzlDragon/pseuds/PuzlDragon
Summary: Yuugi knew better by now to mess with the magic of the Millenium Items. But he did it anyway.Because he missed him.-----In the disaster of the Shadow World RPG, they don't make it in time. The pharoah, Atem, Their Friend, takes out Zorc but at the cost of his existence. When they get back to reality, natural disasters have hit the world all over.Left with the Millenium Puzzle, Yuugi remembers. Everytime he solved it, he got a wish.(This title is probably so cliche for time travel fics but I dont care. Mom says it's my turn for the reference.)
Relationships: Atem/Mutou Yuugi, Bakura Ryou & Honda Hiroto & Jounouchi Katsuya & Mazaki Anzu & Mutou Yuugi, Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler & Yami Yuugi, Mutou Sugoroku | Solomon Moto & Mutou Yuugi, Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi
Comments: 67
Kudos: 76





	1. Intro: Whispers of What Once Was

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story makes me sad so it's kind of low on priority but I'll get to it. It's going to be happy I just hate the starting sadness.

Yuugi couldn't believe what had happened. Two years. Two glorious, terrifying, and emotional years. He had felt so much and learned so much, had never felt lower and never felt as free. He finally gained a sense of himself, only to loose the most important thing to him.

For two years Mutou Yuugi had been on a quest to aid the Nameless Pharaoh to find his lost memories. Until it led to a battle with the demon god, Zorc Necrophades. The one that his friend, the person closest to him had died in the first place. And this was the time that friendship, and hard work, quick wits and courage failed them.

Because you cannot face the god of all demons and expect to feel anything but helpless.

They lost.

In one last, desperate bid, Atem with his memories had repeated the past. But in the world of memories within the puzzle, the spell did not seal them away. For losing the game meant utter destruction. They died together, in that retrampling of tragedy. Atem, with the remaining tatters of his magic, had sent the five of them back. Yuugi, Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, and the part of Ryou that had been utilized by Zorc.

They arrived safe within the room of the museum's diorama. A two year journey had ended tasting of the bitterness of everything related to the Millennium Items. Which were finally empty, free of demon power, and lost, hurting souls. The world moved on, oblivious, to all what had happened. Unknowing of the greatest sacrifice a soul could make in their place.

You would think that Yuugi had nightmares of Zorc, or burning cities. Perhaps, the falling, bloody bodies. The thud they made upon the ground. A purposeless sound. But he doesn't dream. Not of those. He isn't sure it's a blessing or not.

What Yuugi dreams of is this. The items lay scattered on the table.The puzzle had practically blown up, shooting metal across the room. The rope it was on dangles. Every hushed sound in the room echoed. Glass and gold glinted on the floor. The shards crunched underfoot.The hourglasses had shattered, and its sand swirled mindlessly in the air. And Yuugi's heart is empty.

But when Yuugi wakes up, his heart is still empty. The gold pieces still lay scattered on his table. The room echoes with small sounds, and dust swirls in the air conditioning.

The nightmare never ends.

So one night, one terrible night, after the nightmares come and go in many dreams and many wakings, he makes a decision. Yuugi had solved the puzzle twice. He can solve it once more. And Yuugi knows something. Something from his many years at the feet of his historian grandfather. Curses never go away. Not spoke, written, or sealed in blood.

So Yuugi makes a decision. To test the curse of the blood of Kul Elena. By making one more wish.

\---------------

"Uh, Yuugi? Wha'cha got there?" Jounouchi's voice is full of wariness.

"The puzzle." Yuugi mumbles. He's focused. Everyone keeps interupting. He tried to stay home, he actually did feel bad - staying up for three nights in a row might have it's toll - but Momma was worried about upcoming exams. Exams, and workbooks, and what are we eating for dinner, and did you hear what happened to her, and the sixth train is down, can you believe it? So many worries. Everyone worrying and talking and going on with their days like nothing had happened. Like it was all normal.

Each heartbeat felt unnatural. It raced to a quick and strange rhythm, like without it's other half it was fast but unbalanced. It muffled all else. All else but the clicking of pieces.

Yuugi hurt.

Just outside of eyesight, Jounouchi very obviously gestures everyone over. It might be the most overdone gesturing on the face of the planet. It feels a lack of Yuugi's raising an eyebrow and making a comment under his breath. Slowly, to not startle their friend, they approach. Yuugi just clacks. Clicks, and clacks, and mutters to himself about the pieces.

The bags under his eyes were gigantic. Almost black hoops. The whole group seemed to be trying to start a fashion trend with them. The bags had arrived the morning after the museum disaster. But Yuugi's were something else. They grew in hopeless attempt to fill the massive space Atem once filled, or least eat up all of Yuugi's face.

They all look on at their once co-leader with pain. The puzzle. For months the items had sat scattered across Yuugi's table, untouched. Yuugi would often curl his fingers into his shirt where the chain once sat. Sometimes he stared, unseeing, at the puzzle. But he had yet to actually touch them. Cursed items made from blood, terror, and wishes for a better world laid in the hands of murderers.

And Yuugi was clicking the jagged pieces back together like the day was a hollow shell of two years ago. Back before they had gained friendship, and before their souls were torn at, scarred and lacking a part of their little family.

But they couldn't find a thing to say, running on the same fumes from crushed hopes. So they just sat by, unsure. Afraid of a world where Yuugi was putting together the puzzle, and afraid of a world where he wasn't.

\-----------------

It takes two months, weeks and days and nights of agony. Of shifting and tossing and turning. Of restlessness, hollowness, and bitterness. Of promises turned in his head. You said you wished to be by my side for eternity. But no one hears. There is no one there to hear.

It takes two months, but the puzzle is whole once again. For some reason it feels like it fights him, but it feels like it's the only time it's never fought him. Like before there was always a test to beat, something deep inside him to prove he was worthy. He never noticed before.

Now what he fights is the endless curse of the puzzle. One that can exact no more pain and bitterness and tries to sink its teeth in a new victim. It fails. Yuugi has been drained dry. That which was his heart wafted it's particles along the floor of a cold room that glittered with blood gold and broken hearts.

So Yuugi completes the puzzle, victorious over a new definition of empty victory. Or - he almost does. One piece, the all seeing Millennium eye that has mocked him now sits on the table staring into him. It knows the pains of his torn heart and salivates endlessly for more suffering. To bite it's cruel fangs into Yuugi's walking corpse and feast on the dried tears and echoes of memories he once cherished.

He sits and stares at it, with the ticking of the clock echoing in his empty head. All thoughts, all hope has left him. There is no need for anything to be there, with no one else to hear them.

Eventually - and it takes forever - Yuugi puts the last piece in. He doesn't know what he expected. Something, anything. He has seen the terrible, earth-moving magic it has preformed, and the merciful miracles. He has seen it summon gods and reach deep into Yuugi's heart. Both his first and his second heart, the man who was once at his side. There is a click.

Then there is nothing.

Yuugi wants to rage. He feels the need to scream at the heavens, to hit something, to trash his room, maybe go downstairs and drink his grandfather's sake and smash the bottles on the wall, to cry until he has used up the Earth's quota for tears.

But Yuugi is empty. The sorrow and despair he had held back with the feeble shadow of his once endless-optimism crashes down upon him with intrest. Yuugi staggers under it, and falls upon his bed. He stares at the wall as sorrow shreds the last remains of his heart until he falls asleep.

When he wakes up, the puzzle pieces are all tidily in the puzzle box. All except one piece, staring at him as it shines in the morning light. If he had energy he would hurl the cursed evil eye out the window.

He cries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come hang out at my new discord for Yugioh! All things Yugioh, but especially writing and reading. :D  
> https://discord.gg/5A42mrj


	2. Deja Vu Gone Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's sad for now, but it's starting to get funny. Two doofus friends doing their best do that. Poor Yuugi. It's gonna get better soon.

Yuugi lays in his bed, sobs wracking his frame. He doesn't know how long he laid there. He just knows the sun is rising.

The unforgiving light of the bright twilight hours. The merciless rays lay force to the comforting bleakness of shadows within his room. Beams curling their insidious hands into the nooks, and crannies. Shadows where his tears, and broken heart could hide. But the sun rises.

Yuugi rubs his face deep into the pillowcase. The fine grain of the cloth grates against the inflamed, puffy skin of his cheeks, and eyelids. It grows warm, and damp from his tears. From the harsh, hot, choked out sobs of breath it becomes a humid enclave. His fingers try to find grip within the plush cushion, the sheets below it. He can't find a hold. His body aches from sobs. Eventually, he runs out of the tears he has held for months.

He is a canyon. A river of life at it's brightest carved it's winding path into the valleys of his heart. His mind. His very soul. A landscape of experiences, joy, and feelings like none other. Hard-earned bounties blossomed in the teeming garden. And nearly overnight the water had run dry, his world was overturned, and burned at the roots. The paths that once flowed with happiness had been clawed out viciously to take it from him and shatter it to dust. All that remains within is shattered emptiness. A puzzle piece macerated so nothing could fit within it. Most awful, he is alone with his tears. There is none of the companionship there once was. There never will be again.

There is a knock at the door. Another. The creak of the door squeals throughout the room. It pierces through the room's memory of his sobs.

"Yuugi, you need to get up so you can go to school. You're going to be late." Grandpa. The steady rock who supported him through ghost possession, apocalypses, kidnappings, and grief. Yuugi throws himself into the warm embrace of his grandfather. His jean overalls are rough under his palms. He smells like dust. Dust, and mushrooms. Cleaning before breakfast, again.

Grandpa can't make it okay. But he can be there with Yuugi.

"Yuugi?! What in the world?" He pushes Yuugi back. He brushes the hair in Yuugi's eyes away. "What is wrong, Yuugi?"

"G-grandpa. The Puzzle. I." Yuugi can't finish it. Cannot express how he stretched his sanity on a feeble string for months. About how that single hope shattered like glass, embedding itself in his palms to taunt him. To feast on his agony. The accursed puzzle.

"Oh," grandpa's voice is so tender. "I didn't realize how much the puzzle means to you." How much it means? Oh his last dreams of seeing that face, that smile relied on that damn puzzle. He isn't sure there's a way to make anyone understand how low his heart as sunk.

"Eight years spent on it. I probably should have figured it out." Grandpa sighs. Yuugi feels a little unsteady. Does grandpa think this has something to do with some superficial level of accomplishment? No! This is all about his second heart!

"It will be alright, my boy. Don't give up. Now come downstairs. You'll feel better with food in your belly." Grandpa rubs his shoulder as he walks him down the stairs. Yuugi does feel better with food. Body wise. His heart is still a scratched-out abyss. But his stomach isn't grumbling.

Somehow, with grandpa's steady hums, and encouragement he goes through the morning motions. Hair, and teeth are brushed as his eyes stare back into emptiness in the mirror. Remarkably, his puffy eyes are cleared of the bags beneath. The comatose state he cried himself into must have been deep enough to eradicate them. Strangely, he doesn't remember nightmares. Not until his eyes opened. This is a nightmare that goes on for sixteen hours. If he actually sleeps eight hours. Usually, it's longer.

Yuugi walks each step down the stairs with soft thuds. His footing is sure. He feels unsteady anyway. Grandpa stops him with a hand on his arm. He has the look on his face. The one that says he was calling him for a long time. He points, patiently, to his shirt buttons. They're in the wrong places.

With his grandpa's calloused, knobby hands gesturing gently, Yuugi struggles. Each button finds it's place with shaking, tiny hands. His hands always seem to shake now.

"Where are your belt's? And your collar? What about your eyeliner? I can't say I get the fashion, but you loved them." Yuugi hasn't worn them since it happened. He can't stand the punk looks that he shared with-. With-. _He_ adored them. Adored Yuugi showing him modern things. Yuugi took a kitchen knife, and a blowtorch to them.

"Gone." He thought Grandpa realized. Maybe he was just trying to be tactful when he asks. Yuugi pushes past, leaves the cocoon of warmth in his grandfather's reach. Takes each struggled step to the genkan. He doesn't bother tying his sneakers. He doesn't have the energy in his arms. They feel like weighted pillows hanging at his sides. Shoes are on his feet. It is enough.

"Yuugi! Hold on now, you forgot your bag. I put your lunch in it." Grandpa hands him the backpack. Was it always this big in his hands? Is the world just looming like this while he shrinks into his sorrows?

"Thank you, Grandpa." It isn't enthusiastic. It barely comes out of his mouth. But he means it. He doesn't know what he would do without that last pillar of support.

On the bus to school, Yuugi remembers. Yuugi remembers his old habit. He used to ask himself 'What fun thing will happen today?'. Every morning. Without fail. He remembers sharing that habit with someone. A gentle baritone asking along with him.

There is no fun to look forward to anymore.

When he gets to school, he walks into the wrong classroom in a daze. He ends up repeating the process thrice until someone helps him. He mutters a soft thank you. He thinks he would have been embarrassed. Once upon a time. Now he can barely care. He listens to lessons drone on like wind rustling tree leaves.

Then it is lunchtime. He pulls out his bento, mostly due to the effort he knows Grandpa prepared it with. His hand encounters more than the soft fabric his lunch box is wrapped in.

It encounters metal. The eternally warm metal of cursed blood gold. His hand flies back. His school bag drops from his hands with a thud. Clatters ring through the class. Pencils, rulers, and notebooks strew on the floor.

A gold box rolls, intact, and closed somehow, along the floor. The eye on the box stares into his soul. Yuugi stares at it. Shakes. Has it started to follow him, now? Will it never let him be?What more does it want from him? How can Yuugi tell it that it took everything from him? To leave him alone!

Yuugi ignores the other kids staring at him. At his school supplies. He rips the napkin off his bento. Ignores Anzu coming in with a huff. Ignores Jounouchi, and Honda coming in with bruised faces. They shout to him as he darts out the door. Down the hallway. His breath huffs from him. Heats his face with red. His hair slaps into his eyes. He runs, unseeing. He needs this gone. Needs it gone quick. He's not been doing much lately. Just crying, and puzzle solving. It must be why he seems to be making such short progress with each step.

Yuugi has to stop. He can feel his legs cramp into forming knots. He knows if he runs farther, he risks damaging his legs completely.

'Just run. Run anyway. Run as far as you can, then run some more. Who cares if you hurt. Just run from all of this.' Yuugi has never heard something so tempting in all his life. But Grandpa has been so worried lately. He can't hurt Grandpa anymore. He's been through so much. So he stands there instead. Stands there, and puffs overly hot breath from his mouth like a sick dog. The sun glares into his eyes. The sun. He hates it. Rising like it's good the world still spins without the one who saved it so many times.

Yuugi looks out the window, glaring at the happy, clear skies. He sees the shining reflection. The glimmering river that is right beside the school. The river is banned for anyone to go into. He looks down at the box in his arms. The box that contains the incarnation of millennia of malice, greed, and tragedy.

So Yuugi tosses the wrapped box from the window. The tie of the cloth loosens. It was a shoddy tie he did while running, anyway. He watches each little piece fling through the air. They glitter in the air. He flashes back to seeing the glittering gold, and glass flung across a dusty museum room. But he can feel the open breeze through the window. Thinks maybe, he will never get him back. But he can prevent anyone from finding the curse of Kul Elena again. Who would look for it in a river besides a shoddy high school? Who knew where the pieces would float to?

Yuugi laughs. He cries. His lungs shake with it. He feels the rivers upon his cheeks. And he laughs, and laughs, and cries.

Maybe this is mourning. Maybe this is solace. Maybe this is a bitter, petty victory against a greedy man who ruined the lives of so many just because he couldn't be king. Yuugi doesn't know. All he knows is as he cries, the glittering gold blurs together as they fall through the air. It's almost beautiful.

Then a hand lands on his shoulder.

A large hand. A giant hand. Yuugi turns. No. No. It _can't_ be. After he recovered, he moved to a different city. It can't-

"Hi, Yuugi. Did you decide to be good, and bring me my money today?" Ushio says. Even through Yuugi's tears, his smirk is greedy, and grimy. Bloodlusted. Yuugi knows what murderers look like. And Ushio might have not reached that point yet, but he already has the heart, and smile of one.

Yuugi is empty. Empty of energy, empty of hope, empty of any worth of life. But he is full of shock. So his feet betray him, and he is but a stick that Ushio drags with him to the back of the school.

Yuugi's senses can't keep up with what is happening. With his brain that has melded reality with nightmares in a horrific new way. His feet, struggling to find purchase as he is dragged along. His mouth, struggling for breath as the collar of his shirt is used to strangle his throat. The brick is rough against his face, unforgiving as his body is flinged into it. Red. Red, red, red. Like _his_ brilliant eyes. The ones that no longer exist. Or do they? What is real anymore?

There is thuds, and shouts, and crunching. Yuugi can't discern what is happening. Can't add one thing to another. But it is cold. All cold. Then there is sirens. Sirens, louder, and louder. They make his head hurt worse. His head? Yes, his head is hurting. _Oh._ It's so cold. And the Sirens hurt his head. Can't someone turn that off, please?

Then everything is nothing.

\----

"Listen, man. We got to do something!" Jounouchi says.

"We don't have to do anything," Honda replies.

"He got beat up because of us! Again!" Jounouchi whisper screams. His face still holds the evidence of Ushio's greed. So does Honda, standing next to him.

"So you say Yuugi stood in front of us so we didn't get hurt more. But it's still because of Yuugi we got hurt in the first place!"

"No! It's my fault isn't it? It's like you said. You told me to keep my mouth shut, and I blabbed in front of Ushio about picking on him. Then Ushio beat us up to try to force Yuugi to pay up. But Yuugi wouldn't stand by when we got hurt. Little shrimp stood up for us. He called us his friends! When have we even been friendly to the little guy, huh?"

"We have! Sometime! Uh. I'm sure... well fine. We probably didn't deserve him doing that for us. But what the hell we gonna do about it? We called for the ambulance for him. But it's not like we can take on Ushio's gang for him." Honda gestures to the shape they are both in. Jounouchi sighs.

They turn back to watch the sunset in silence. The school's rooftop gives a perfect view, if you don't mind the fence in the way. There's starting to be a slight chill in the wind. A chill that gains more, and more ground as the sun sets lower. Honda picks up a pebble, and examines it. He tosses it in the air. Jounouchi turns to face him. They watch as Honda's pebble flips through the air. Again, and again. It whistles delightedly. Honda wheels his arm back. Throws it.

It whistles as it plummets to the ground, too.

"There's just gotta be more we can do for him. We owe him one, man."Jounouchi groans.

"Listen, I agree. But there's just not much. If we keep an eye on him, we can prevent Ushio from dragging him anywhere alone."

"And what? Watch him for three years? There's got to be something more!"

"I'm not sure we can even do that." Honda is reluctant to say it to his friend.

"You saying we can't keep an eye on him? I might not be an A student, I might not even be a C student, but I can use my eyes!"

"But...what if Yuugi doesn't want us to?" Honda turns to his friend.

"What? Why wouldn't he want us to look after him?"

"Well think about it, Jounouchi. We haven't been friendly to him. You said it yourself. Why would he trust us?" Jounouchi bites his lip as he grumbles.

"Well, why wouldn't he? He told Ushio we're his friends, and everything!"

"Yeah. Ushio. The guy he was trying to prevent from beating us up because we're his bullies. Saying we're his friends is a good angle. You, know. If there's not evidence to the contrary, and Ushio isn't just trying to take advantage of him. I mean Yuugi might be naive, but he's not stupid." Honda says patiently. Sometimes he thinks his friend suffers effects from all the concussions he's gotten. Honda has been around for many of these, even when they were little elementary schoolers. Even when the hits didn't come from other kids. Honda never judges, even if simplifying schoolwork down as a wannabe tutor is tiring.

"You think Ushio took that puzzle?" Honda has no idea where that came from though. He wonders if Jounouchi even listened to what he said.

"Why would Ushio take Yuugi's puzzle?" He sighs out.

"Well, Yuugi's gramps is an archeologist guy. He went to all sorts of famous history sites. Brought back mementos. I heard Yuugi talk about it during history!"

"I...vaguely remember that."

"And it felt like solid metal when we held it, right? And had all those Egyptian hypogriffs-"

"Hieroglyphs."

"Yeah! It had all that on the box! Remember, Yuugi ducked out with it when we brought our lunches to the class. When we, and Anzu found him, the puzzle was gone! Even if it's a fake, maybe that bastard thought it might be real, and took it," Jounouchi says excitedly.

"But Yuugi was seen with it for eight years straight. Every. Day. And there isn't a pawnshop in Domino City that would be able to identify if something that obvious came in, and police sniffed around! So he would have to keep it on him unless he knows someone from out of town who would pawn it without questions. And someone who keeps that straight A of an image wouldn't!" The boys turn to look at each other in a hyped frenzy.

"So we should break into his house when he isn't home, and-"

"So he might have dumped it somewhere if he realized he doesn't have a way to sell-"

They stop staring at each other.

"What?"

"What."

"So...uh. Check around the school?"

"Yeah. Yeah, let's check around the school."

They have to sneak around the clubs, and teachers still in the school. But they check every trashcan, and every nook, and cranny they can find. Luckily, they agree that Ushio couldn't have dug into trash, or dumpsters given that he was clean when last seen. So it's only investigations of the top of the dumpsters.

"You might be right about helping the shrimp out, Jounouchi, but I am not dumpster diving for his stupid, fake, tourist-bait puzzle."

"He's in the _hospital,_ man."

"Yeah, and we're gonna keep an eye on him. Not dumpster dive."

A long time later, they walk away without any success.

"Ugh!" Jounouchi groans as he stretches his arms. Honda stops besides him.

"All that, and no success. Maybe Ushio is going to pawn it somewhere. Maybe he thinks no one will even check him out as a suspect."

"He's probably right. While we get looked at even though we took him home yesterday, and called he ambulance today. And! We had witnesses, and everything. Police chief just hates us, I think."

"Yeah, probably," Honda sighs as he throws his arms over the bridge railing. The water is beautiful at night. You can't see how polluted it is. Jounouchi walks over, his steps tapping on the wood slates. He throws his arms over, too, matching his friend. The wind is in full chill now, ruffling their hair.

"You know, it almost looks like stars, don't it?"

"Huh?" Honda echoes.

"The lights. It looks like stars. You haven't been able to see that in Domino since the tech companies built all those buildings. You remember that?"

"Yeah, when we were just a port town. I remember the stars. Guess the only place you can see stars is in the water, huh?"

"Guess Domino City doesn't forget her roots." Jounouchi turns to his friend. He cocks a big crooked grin. His face squishes from the action, all sorts of bruises, and cuts abused by the action. He doesn't seem to mind.

"Just like we won't forget each other, right pal?" Jounouchi finishes. Honda smiles back at him.

"Never, man. Brothers forever." They fist bump, before turning back to the water. Honda squints. It's almost like-. He looks up into the sky. There's no plane or helicopter lights moving above. He looks back down. He nudges Jounouchi.

"Hey, dude? You see that?"

"I mean, yeah? Looks nice right?"

"No, I mean that one's moving! And there's no lights moving above water." Jounouchi looks around, before squinting into the water.

An eye looks back up.

For the second day in a row, Jounouchi chucks his shoes off, and throws himself into the chilly river water. Honda joins him.

They come back up minutes later with a near complete pyramid puzzle, and one individual piece. One glinting, golden eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:  
> -Short comments  
> -Long comments  
> -Questions  
> -Constructive criticism  
> -“<3” as extra kudos  
> -Reader-reader interaction  
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> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason (sometimes I feel shy when I’m reading and not up to starting a conversation, for example), feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!


	3. A Different Wish, Fulfilled Across Time

Mutou Sugoroku has seen a lot of things in his trips around the world. His discovery of ancient places of legends. Also in his normal life beyond that. Wonderful things. Terrible things. Bizarre things.

And the day before was perhaps the worst day of his life. Not almost being murdered. Not being betrayed by a friend. Not the plenty of times he almost died in ancient ruins.

No, it was watching his sweet grandson in the most terrible depression he had ever seen someone in. It almost was if he was grieving. The longer he watched, the more he suspected that he was wrong. That Yuugi had solved the puzzle, and it had done or shown him something terrible. But then he had gone upstairs to see it disassembled. It was strange, given how Yuugi had almost solved it the night before. So Sugoroku had tucked it away into Yuugi's bag in hopes to lift his drowning spirits. Right next to his lunch, and with the money to pay the bully on top.

He regretted adding the puzzle soon after. After he wondered if Yuugi had disassembled it after it did something to him. But there was nothing to be done. Nothing until Yuugi came home from school. Sugoroku could do damage control then.

But Yuugi didn't come home from school. No, Sugoroku got a call that he dreaded. The bully had gotten him anyway. When the school handed him Yuugi's things, the puzzle was missing, but the money was there.

The puzzle didn't need to curse his grandson. It being in his hands was danger enough, it seems. A solid gold artifact was worth much more than the bully demanded. Perhaps, Yuugi, or the bully didn't even see the money, tucked away in an unlabeled envelope. It didn't matter. Should haves, and could haves did not remove Yuugi from the hospital.

He slowed the car down to make the curve. The hum of the wind rushing by dissipated, no longer accompanying his racing thoughts. He circled around. Not a single parking spot.

He felt hopeless. His grandson. His wonderful grandson, and it was his fault he was here. He had looked so small in that hospital bed. The bruises that he had from the day before was nothing. That lout had made mincemeat of his grandbaby's face. The doctors were certain he would need plastic surgery to look even close to what he had before.

He circled the parking lot again, ignoring the glare from the early morning sun. He tapped the steering wheel in an impatient cadence. He spotted a family getting into a car on the other side of the parking lot. He whizzed close by, perhaps faster than he should have. Ignored the way his old bones didn't appreciate the jolt. He waited close enough to the car to claim it. No one was getting this spot. It was already an hour past visitors time, and Mutou Sugoroku was spending every second he could with Yuugi.

Eventually, the family drove off in the car. The little girl with a get well balloon on her wrist waved at him. He chuckled, waving back. At least someone was feeling better. Unfortunately, the parking spot wasn't exactly close to the entrance. This wasn't something he could rush. Not unless he wanted to ask if he could have the bed next to Yuugi. He walked to the doors, each step tapping against the pavement. He could feel the heat, and humidity in the air already. He was glad for the loose tee-shirt he wore. And for the gentle breeze stirring the strands of hair under his bandanna. Oh, Yuugi. This was the weather you liked best.

He paused near a lamp post, taking a breath. He readjusted the bag on his shoulder. He made sure to pack not just toiletries, and clothes. Oh, no. That would be a travesty. He packed several different kinds of games. He was unsure how well Yuugi would be able to move, or do things. But he knew his grandson needed something to keep his mind sharp! So a few packs of a new card game, crosswords, a new, and crisp sudoku book, and that pop the puzzle game. Luckily, it was foldable.

And a stuffed toy from that card game. It was called a kuriboh. He knew how Yuugi loved easily overlooked characters, especially cute ones. He valued their strengths, believed that everything could be important. Including a little kuriboh. Also, it was soft, and fluffy. Surely, he would love something comfortable to hold.

Re-energized with the thought of seeing his grandson awake, he headed back on course. It wore him out a bit, but he pushed on. One step, then another, then another. He ignored his doctor's voice saying in the back of his mind that he needed a cane. Nonsense! He was walking fine. He would just get weaker. Dependent on a piece of metal. Ha.

Then he was inside. The artificial lights stung his eyes a bit. However, he was glad for the air conditioning. He looked up, hearing a ruckus.

Was that? Yes! Yes, it was that lanky, blonde boy who explained everything to him, and gave him Yuugi's puzzle. Next to him stood another boy with an impressive pompadour. In their hands was the Millennium Puzzle, and it's box! He rubbed his eyes. Could this really? He jolted upon hearing Yuugi's name. Shouted. Unhappily.

"Listen, we need to see Mutou Yuugi! This is important! We have something of his!"

"If you could just let us talk to him-" pompadour started.

"Our patient is unable to see anyone but family. You cannot see him. If you have something to be delivered to him, we can take it, and deliver it to him." The receptionist radiated 'say one more thing, and I'm calling security'. Sugoroku jogged over. Or the closest he could come to jogging.

"Boys! There you are! Oh, and you found his puzzle! Your cousin will be so happy. I thought you were going to visit later?" Sugoroku shoves himself between the boys. He grabs their shoulders, pulling them close. He tactfully does not mention the profound startle response in them. Nor how their first reaction is to clench their fists. He can help them with that later. Right now-

"Sorry, gramps. But we thought about how happy he would be we got this back for him. And it ain't like it's a school day!" The blonde scratches the back of his head.

"Yeah, we're just worried. He wasn't in great shape." Pompadour can pull off a great sheepish look. Goes terrible with the worn leather jacket. He's surprised these boys are this good at acting. Especially, how they were shouting the dead awake in the middle of a hospital reception area.

"Oh, mister Mutou. I wasn't aware they were family of yours." She doesn't seem entirely sold on the idea. He sees that hand hovering over the call button. Probably for security.

"Oh, I have my hands full with the boys, I assure you. A bit slacking off in the shop, sometimes, but they're good at heart," he pinches blondie's cheek. "You two are gonna help me out in the shop, later right?" He says as he wiggles his pinched cheek.

"What. Let go! I didn't agree to this!"

"Yeah, why should we help, we had plans this weekend!"

"Because Yuugi can't work in the shop this week. And by myself, the work will pile up. You don't want him to come back to a mess, right?" He looks as mournful as possible. The boys cringe.

"I mean, we can help out some. Right, Honda?"

"I. Well. We do owe Yuugi, I guess. What would you need us to do?"

"Just unload some inventory. You know I can never quite finish by myself." They both nod their agreement. Absolute suckers. Serves them right, for needing him to bail them out. They really make quite a fuss.

"I'll just take these fellows up with me to see their cousin, right?" He beams at the receptionist. She assents, shaking hear head at 'teens these days'. Sugoroku tugs the fools into an elevator with him. As the glossy doors finally shut, the lurch of movement in his gut starts.

"You two really could learn some subtlety. Now what is both of your names, before they ask me about you."

"I'm Jounouchi Katsuya. Thanks, Gramps."

"Honda Hiroto," Pompadour says. He's got an impressive blush. "And we were doing fine."

"She had her hand over the security button. And you both from outside the lobby. And you are helping sometime this week. A favor for me rescuing you from being thrown out on your asses. Or police called." They groan. Kids these days. Don't seem to put an ounce of effort into lying, or working.

"So. You have his puzzle."

"Yeah," Jounouchi runs his fingers through his mop of hair. "We found it in the river."

"We think the guy who did it to him took the puzzle to pawn, but realized he'd be in trouble if someone called the police about a mysterious ancient Egyptian artifact. Looked around the school. Found it."

"Yeah! Since they're illegal for anyone to own but the Egyptian government, and all!" Jounouchi's face lights up with a smile. It seems to push away the bruises on his face. He seems younger. Like a boy with that many calluses on his knuckles could be innocent. Like there is a grain of innocence in him, beaming out under the flickering, fluorescent lights.

"Well, I am thankful you found it. I'm sure Yuugi will be as well." He pauses. He looks in both the boys' faces.

"You two know who did this."

"Yeah, gramps, we do."

"But you haven't reported it."

"We did. They laughed it off," Honda grumbles bitterly.

"They said no way class president, and hall monitor did it. Said it had to be us, since we were making up wild stories." How Jounouchi can do that great an eye roll with two black eyes is a mystery.

"Luckily, we had half the class as witnesses." Honda shoots in. His voice is half a grumble. The elevator slows to a halt as they reach the floor.

"Keep your mouth shut where you might be overheard. Even if no one else believes you, the guy might try to shut you up. Watch your backs," he imparts as a last word of wisdom.

"Wow, not used to that or anything," Honda snips.

They tap their feet onto the hospital tile as they begin their search. Finding Yuugi is the easy part. The second door on the right. Seeing him is the hard part. Yuugi is curled up on his side. Best he can while being hooked up to monitors, anyway. They had to tape a monitor onto his finger so it stopped sliding off. His hand was too tiny. Half Yuugi's face is wrapped with bandages. Even with constant changing, red still seeps into the spiderweb of gauze wrapping. It fans out like broken glass patterns. Like traumatic ripples in a pond. His left arm is supported in a blue sling. Both feet propped up on a wedge pillow. Invisible is the damage to his teeth. Maybe half of them are chipped, at the least.

"Did that bastard break his arm, and legs?!" Honda looks like he's about to puke. As much as Sugoroku hates to admit it, he agrees. The sight of his grandson looking like packing peanuts -perforated, twisted, and in many pieces - makes his gut sour.

"No. Broke ribs, a foot, and a few teeth, but he just battered his legs. Few torn muscles. He's going to need physical therapy, but it's not broken. His arm? Completely dislocated. They don't think he'll ever use it like normal. He's going to have more surgeries over the next few days. We'll know more after." The boys both look grim-faced.

Sugoroku wonders at them. He knows Yuugi didn't have many friends. The closest was a distant friend, Anzu. Distant in both the literal, and the metaphorical. Family always moving, and she drifted further away. Not that she ever considered Yuugi a best friend. So Yuugi had no close friends. No one to play with, to study with, to talk with.

So why were these two nimrods searching around a school to return Yuugi's puzzle? Sugoroku wasn't an idiot. He recognized scars from fights, and provocative attitudes when he saw them. These two were delinquents who took the tough route in things. Yuugi? Yuugi was as patient, and caring as they come. How did these guys start to look after Yuugi?

"Well, at least we know one thing that will cheer him up! His 'treasure' of course!" Jounouchi bends down to Yuugi. His hands, so calloused carefully untie the knot in the puzzle's string. His rough hands slowly swing the smooth leather string behind Yuugi's neck. His hands glance by Yuugi's neck, rustling soft pajamas, and hair still encrusted with blood in his wake. Yuugi flinches.

Jounouchi pauses in where he stands over Yuugi. He keeps his breaths shallow, but warm puffs still ruffle Yuugi's bangs. He ties the string as quickly as he can. Tightens it with a short tug to tighten the knot. He lays the precious golden weight beside Yuugi on the wire-strewn bed.

"There, pal. Maybe you can rest easier with that back to you," Jounouchi sighs satisfactorily as he gazes down with his hands on his own hips. "You look like you could use it."

"What about the missing puzzle piece?" Sugoroku hums critically. Honda pulls his hand out of his pocket.

"Got it right here!" It's a self satisfied smirk, but Sugoroku supposes he probably earned it. Honda examines it.

"But what will we do with it? Yuugi wanted to complete the puzzle." Jounouchi points at Yuugi proudly.

"We can put it in his good hand!"

"I don't know, man. A piece of gold in his hand is easier to swipe than the gaudy thing on his neck." Jounouchi runs his fingers through his wild bangs again. He hums. Honda sighs. They meet each other's eyes.

"We can put the piece in the puzzle..."

"And put it in with his hand!"

"Then he'll have completed the last bit!"

Sugoroku shakes his head. These two really share a braincell. It might not be what Yuugi planned, but between that yawning cavern of depression, and Yuugi's injuries, Sugoroku was willing to roll with it. Maybe if he wakes up with his puzzle back, and whole he'll rest easier. He does huff at them, though. They don't even glance his way. Presumptive brats.

The boys aren't even paying attention to anything. Honda carefully tilts the puzzle. The smooth metal seems to be warm in his hands. Vibrating, almost. As Jounouchi slips the puzzle piece in Yuugi's right hand, he pinches Yuugi's little fingers between his own. Carefully, the boys inch closer, and closer.

Their moves are a fine operation. A dance in reaching the goal, but delicate in caution of the sleeping teen. They reach it, fumble it. The angle of the puzzle piece off in Yuugi's slack grip. Jounouchi rolls Yuugi's small, chubby fingers between him to readjust. Sugoroku shakes his head at them. One more try, and the lip of the hole catches the puzzle piece. A twist, and then all it takes is- a click. The boys pause, grinning at each other.

Then the room lights up in a blaze of light. Sugoroku gasps. He doubts once more if giving the puzzle to Yuugi was safe. As they blink dots out of their eyes, the look around.

"Hey?! What's the big idea with the light show?"

"It wasn't very funny!"

They look around to nothing. The boys mutter to themselves about someone with a flashlight. But Sugoroku knows better. As he sits down next to his unconscious grandson, he wonders if he has done the right thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:  
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	4. A Morning, A Mourning, And A Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It must be confusing when you think you are someone else. :(

He wakes. But not sure what to. He lays somewhere soft. There is a chill in the air. Pain radiates...everywhere. The lights are so bright, but it just makes the shadows stronger in their little pools. He can tell this without opening his eyes.

The shadows? Yes. The shadows. How does he know about the shadows? ...He must have always known about the shadows, mustn't he? They're written on his puzzle box. His puzzle? Yes. Yes, he has a puzzle. His precious Millennium Puzzle. Why is it precious? It was his grandfather's. Of course, it is precious.

But where is he?

He cracks open his eyes. It's difficult. Painful, with heat throbbing in them. He can feel flakes of some kind crust off. Even once he pries them as open as possible, it is like his face is trying to push them closed again. They're too swollen. But he manages. He lifts his hand. Or tries to. Pain lances up his arm like a stab in his veins. Also, his arm is constrained.

He takes a deep breath, bracing himself. He wiggles his arm again. Definitely restrained. He tries his right arm. Luckily, it is fine. He touches his left arm with his right hand. Feels, more than looks at, the scratchy, flat material. The way it holds his arm in pouch. The way his hand sticks out from it. The way there is a band slung over his shoulder. It... is a sling. Yes. A sling. Do they not use them for broken arms. A hiss of concern wells within him. A broken arm? He reaches up to his face. The texture of his face is...unpleasant. Also, it hurts to touch. But touch he does. He quits when he comes to the conclusion that it is impossible to tell where one bruise ends, and one begins. He is just a tattered piece of tenderized meat right now. Perhaps, if he finds a mirror, he can see if the damage is as bad as it feels.

Bad idea.

Bad. Bad. Bad idea. He flops onto his side, as he grunts in pain. His legs screamed as he tried to lift them. Not moving. Not moving right now. He stares at the ceiling, its white tiles apathetic to his pain. He is hurt. How? He furtively tries to reach. Stretching himself further, and further for the answer. He was hurt. When? At school. When at school? ...Yesterday? During lunch. Why at lunch? He had gone to the window. With his puzzle. He threw it out the window. Why? His precious puzzle? His grandfather's puzzle. His magical treasure. Finishing the puzzle would grant him his wish! His wish...for what? For friends! Yes, his magical puzzle would grant him friends. And the shadows. Yes, the shadows said he would get them, too.

He shifts uncomfortably. Which then becomes a lot more than uncomfortable. He hisses, settling in place to stave off more pain.

But how did he get hurt? Someone met him. Someone...Ushio. His name is Ushio. Ushio the hall monitor. Ushio...Ushio who hurt his friends! His eyes push the boundaries of their bruised confinement. Ushio who hurt his friends, and claimed he owed the other boy a huge amount of money! And when he found Yuugi, Ushio beat him because he didn't have money on him! His growl reverberates in scratchy tones, as shadows whirl in anger. Light begins to glow. He raises his hand. There, around his neck is his puzzle. He doesn't remember finishing it. However, he doesn't remember coming here, either. Or a lot of things. But it doesn't matter. He will make Ushio pay for trespassing upon the hearts of him, and his friends.

The damage to his body is something that should not be done instantly. It requires the body rebuilding its channels, its roads, and its structures. But magic can help it along. So, he channels the magic at his fingertips into the mangled parts of his body.

He falls asleep, trance-like, wondering why he tried to throw his puzzle away. And why there is so many memories locked away from him, like in a vault.

Later, hours later, days later - he is not certain. But later there is a loud clatter. It rises him in alertness. He is bristling, a lightening storm waiting to strike. He rises awake, pushing past something. He jerks up, turning towards the sound.

It is a woman in a dress picking things off the floor. She turns towards him, her skirt rustling.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I was just stocking things. I didn't mean to be so clumsy." An apologetic smile. She wears a cap. A dress just past her knees. Footwear for standing long periods. A nurse. A nurse, his brain says. He breathes deeply, trying to calm his raving heart. He closes his eyes. Feels the power thrums in his veins. And he lets it relax. Encourages the shadows to whisper back to their places. He has no need of them.

"It is fine." He has no need to be rude to this kind nurse helping him.

He lays back down on the soft sheets. His injuries have healed enough from the magic that shifting does not result in agony. It is not much. But it is enough. For now. Eventually he will be better. Stronger. He will come after Ushio then. But for now? He will rest. And be more comfortable. The corner of his mouth that does not hurt to move twitches up in some strange contentment.

Until he opens his eyes again. He isn't sure what encourages him to do so, just that he does. He glances around, turning his head to the side. And sees something that fills his body like ice water.

There stands a boy. A boy who is see through. His skin is, but a thin gauze that reveals the hospital's paisley patterned walls. A ghost would be unusual, but not earth-shattering. No. It is the fact the boy looks like him. Exactly like Yuugi does. What does this strange omen do? This creature or spirit who shares his likeness?

He stands there, agape. The spirit stands there, staring into Yuugi's heart. The look pierces something guttural in him. He sits up in astonishment. He opens his mouth. Shuts it. What is one meant to say in this situation?

"Who are you?" He whispers. A good start. If this imposter claims he is Yuugi himself, then there might be an issue. But this spirit does not do that.

He cries.

The boy covers his mouth with his hands. And then his body rocks with sobs. This spirit is less standing then hunched over, swaying with each heartwrenching sob. Yuugi looks back at the nurse. She is doing her duties, unperturbed by this. She walks around the bed, eventually passing right by the see-through boy. Her footsteps are completely obscured by the wailing. She waves at Yuugi with a smile before walking out the door. None the wiser to the vision before him.

"Who are you?" He hisses again. He tries to ignore the cries. What could this mean? What omen is this? Did the gods send this spirit, or is it something malicious?

"It's you, isn't it? It's really you? But _how?"_ The spirit weeps. Yuugi doesn't know how to answer that. How to respond. He doesn't think he wants to. How does this anguished ghost have his face, or know him? So Yuugi does something he can't explain. He steps back in his head.

Then he stands by his bed, looking over his body. Looking over his body, with his face. He looks over. The ghost is gone. A chill that he cannot feel races down his spine. He looks down at his hands. He is the one see through now. He looks back at his body. He sees it sit there. Blinking. Tears collecting in its eyes. Watches shivers rack his frame. Watches it start to sob. Watches this individual jerk, and shudder. He is completely unstopped by the agony of moving Yuugi's damaged arms, and legs. Yuugi watches this face, and body stealer.

And feels like he isn't looking at his own body at all.

He stands there, watching in a state between numbness, and emotion. Stands there, watching. Watching the boy shake, and shudder, and sob. Watching him bawl, and howl. Watches as the nurses come in, and then the doctors. Watches as they talk over him. Talk around this boy, who is blind to all of it. They administer medication until he passes out, tears streaking down his face.

Yuugi looks down at this mangled, tear-streaked face as he senses displacement to his core. He does not like it. He stands there for a long while. He ponders the anguish of a ghost with his face. Ponders why this boy knows him. Ponders why be feels more comfortable out of his body than in it.

When the sun has set outside the windows, illuminating the sky gold, he sets down his troubles. He stares down at the boy on the bed. Then he steps back once more.

He finds himself within a room.

A room filled with staircases, with doors, everywhere. Mysteries, and no answers filled these doors. He knows that. Just like he knows someone trying to play the game of finding their way out through the labyrinth would fail. It's designed like that. The puzzle is designed like that.

Because he is in the puzzle.

He cannot explain how he knows that. But it is intrinsic in his knowledge in a way that nurses, school uniforms, and Domino City is not. He walks to one door. The door leading inward, but not outward. He opens it. It swings open with little effort upon it's weighty surface. Because he can control it. This puzzle responds to him. It's his puzzle. So he opens the cold metal door, and finds another hallway.

Half the hallway, the one on the puzzleside, is lined with old bricklaying. The other side is different. Entirely different. It is a wooden door. A modern wooden door. The hallway that mixes with the brickwork is wooden. Smooth, warm wood interspersed with the brick. The walls are light blue, almost obscured by the dark lighting. There is a thin strip of paneling, highlighting the midsection of the wall.

But the door is nigh destroyed.

It is crooked in its frame, the hinges barely hanging onto the top. Bright light is coming under the uncovered corners. The door has large cracks swallowing the door. The bright yellow paint is peeling off, splinters sticking out of it's surface. The whole door reeks of an aura of wrongness, a mourning that swallows all happiness. All hope has been snuffed out. Only despair remains. He knows this even standing across the hallway from it. He takes a careful step closer. Than another. The aura of loneliness that pierces his heart continues to do so. It digs in deep with every step he takes. He cannot even make it to the door itself. He cannot take the echoes of sorrow that linger. Nor can he face the questions surrounding it. Surrounding why he knows his soulroom is actually the Millennium Puzzle itself. He turns. He sees the door outside. The door to the outer world. He cannot face these things. Not now. Not when his magic is weak, his body is weaker, and there is the echoes of wailing resonating through the hallway.

He turns back to the puzzle. He shuts the door. And he explores the labyrinth he knows he built. For he knows the rest can come tomorrow.


	5. An Un-Reality, The Wrong Promise, And A Breakdown

When Yuugi comes to, again, he lays there. He lies there, and lies there. Light tries to wrench his eyelids open. He doesn't care. He lays there, but his mind is somewhere else.

He is stuck in a battle of feeling nothing, and feeling all too much. It overwhelms him. He is drowning in it. Drowning in the echo of silence that occurred since Atem - his Atem - was shattered in a tragedy on loop. Drowning in the feelings of a new bond blossoming in the corner of his mind. A freshly built hallway to the chambers of the puzzle. The damn puzzle. A cursed vestige made of human pain. A shimmering lie of an artifact. It lies on his chest, cold, but pulsing warm like a heartbeat. It tries to fill the space in Yuugi's chest where the dust of Yuugi's heart lays unfulfilled.

He despises it.

He prayed to it. Wished upon it. Built it once again, piece by piece. He brought this nightmare upon himself. He supposes that not even the curse meant to bring forth the god of demons can cheat death. So it cheated time instead.

Or it just made him crazy. That's a possibility.

But what does Yuugi do? Nothing, his mind begs. Nothing. This is not his other heart. This is not the man who heard his every wish, every thought, every emotion. Not the person who grew alongside Yuugi. Not the person who motivated him. Not the person who protect him, and Yuugi protected back. They did not exchange pieces of their hearts in quiet hours alone from the world. Not the man that Yuugi-. No. No. Yuugi cannot think of this. Cannot handle any of it. He squeezes his eyes tight until they hurt. He should throw the cursed puzzle away. And give whoever placed the weight of the world on his chest the lecture of the world.

But what of the Atem in the puzzle? Yuugi gulps. He would be stuck alone. Alone once again. But he has been alone, hasn't he? What is a bit more time until someone able to handle this comes along? Surely, Yuugi isn't meant to hold the puzzle. Not if it means the loss of -. Not if it means complete failure. And Yuugi failed. He failed miserably. Failed to the point that there was no hope, was no choice. Just Atem sending them back before he sacrificed himself to destroy Zorc. No, Yuugi isn't meant to be the one. Atem lasted millennia. He can last long enough for a true hero.

Yuugi nods to himself. Resolute. This is not a burden for him. This Atem deserves someone who would not demands promises unfair. Not be emotionally needy. Someone who hasn't made their journey of personal growth. Someone who needs Atem, like Yuugi once did. Who can take Atem's hand, and go forward like they once did. Yuugi gulps again. He tastes saltiness. The sound of the air conditioner hurts his head. It is already so full of heavy thoughts. He just can't take anymore.

Yuugi wiggles himself. He doesn't feel as hurt as he probably should be. He looks down at the ice-cold puzzle. He sighs. Oh, Atem. You currently crazy, naive bastard.

But it still hurts. Enough that he probably still shouldn't walk on his screaming legs. Stuck in his bed, with nothing else to do (and a lot of sedatives in his system), he dozes off. And wakes up. And dozes off. The nurses come in, fussing over him. Everytime. Because his dreams haunt him. Dreams of screams. Dreams of gold pieces shooting off like bomb shrapnel. Dreams of Atem's true face, twisted in determined agony. Of mourning. Mourning for himself? Mourning his lost friends? Mourning the future that he lost? Yuugi doesn't know.

He sees that face, Atem's true face, in his dreams. That regal, beautiful face with his broad nose, plush lips, wild curls, and bright pink wounds stark against dark skin. Thick eyebrows drawn tight into furrows. The pain on it. The forced smile sent to them. Yuugi cries out for him. Cries out in a scream his Atem cannot hear. No. No, the Atem of this repeated past does not know anything of Yuugi.Because he is not Yuugi's Atem. No one in this cursed repetition is Yuugi's.

He wonders if this is how Atem felt, stuck in the memory world. Knowing that he could never go back again. Knowing he is just repeating his loss. Yuugi flails on soft sheets, banging into the smooth, harsh metal headboard bars. He reaches out to the Atem he cannot reach. The Atem he has lost forever. He accidentally yanks his wires out more than once. 

He does not care. He does not stop. He will never stop, reaching out to the part of himself long destroyed. Eventually, the nurses pump medicines in his veins again. His broken heart does it's best to circulate it through his body. He passes into a black abyss once again. Missing his home. One he can never return to.

That cursed puzzle.

He wakes again. In, and out. Finds each time that his wounds have healed abnormally fast, abnormally well. Yuugi curses it. The concern, the healing of this stranger in the puzzle. He cries out for his own Atem. Not this imitator. Not this feral, unleashed imposter. He longs for the regal, the compassionate friend of his.

Eventually, anger fills Yuugi. He howls. Absolutely screeches. Tears at the wires on purpose. He sees blood fly from his veins. Pour from the scratches. He tears the bed sheets in his grasp. Hears with delight the tearing. It sounds like the emptiness in his soul. The loneliness.

The worst? That he feels this duplicate of Atem haunt him. Yuugi can tell without seeing him that he stands there, watching a poor guard over Yuugi's pain.

Eventually, it all leaves him. Anger, sadness, grief. It evaporates like water in the desert. His eyes are red, not from past bruises, but from tears. His ribs are mostly healed. Now they hurt from the energy of heaving sobs until he vomited. Twice. His lips are bitten raw. Blood crusted under his fingernails. He is insensate. Frozen. A vessel unfilled. He wonders if his soul left this vacant husk of himself when Atem did. Emptiness. He ponders it. Until it flees his mind like a feather on the wind. Then he thinks of nothing. Nothing at all. Lets the swoosh of the window curtains, the footsteps outside the door, the beeping flow over him.

Some un-time later, he feels a presence come closer. Yuugi closes his eyes. He has no desire to set eyes on the once-was man. The strange almost-there feeling of a spirit lights upon Yuugi's head. Pats gently upon his blood-encrusted hair.

"He won't touch you again. You'll never have to hurt again." It's hissed in his ear as a snake. Yuugi finds tears again. For the cruel pain of a boy displaced. For a haunting of a memory that once was. He wants it to be a dream.

He knows its not.


End file.
